There is no way to answer this question objectively, since you are comparing asymmetrical attributes. The answers given below bear out their “opinionative” nature. Should be converted to community wiki.

I’m not sure I agree. I was trying to get people to say whether they thought a missing 4th bonus made the ship type less specialised in its role. Tech 2 ships are meant to be specialised, not just cruiser-like frigates. However, the change to wiki has already been done, so I shall leave it.

Perhaps I used the wrong language in the question. I wanted to find out if people thought the assault ship class was gimped, and why veterans always prefer combat interceptors instead of an assault ship. Everytime I think about it, I struggle to reword the wquestion so that it doesn’t sound subjective… so perhaps you are right and the whole question should have been a wiki from the start.

6 answers

Although they have fewer bonuses, Assault Frigates have better intrinsic attributes, for me the primary example being the base shield and armor hitpoint and resistance values. These are way better than on other T2 frigates.

I also note that the bonuses on the other T2 frigates generally include ones for quite specialised tasks, eg scanning, or for a very limited number of modules or situations, eg. Scout Drone Thermal damage on the Helios, Target Painting effect and Web range on the Hyena or MWD sig rad penalty on the Ares.

This makes the bonuses on the AF much more usable in more of the situations that you'll want your ship to be in. It all makes sense in the context that AFs are the least specialised of all the T2 frigates.

I think I would prefer a bonus related to my skills to improve my armour/shields, rather than a flat increase in those stats. That would make an assault frigate look more attractive in the role it is meant for, I think.

The bonuses to afterburner speed which were proposed but removed at the last moment from the Lag expansion (that’s not what CCP called it if I recall, something beginning with D) would have been perfect. They would have brought AFs in line with other T2 frigs and strengthened their roles as heavy tacklers – ie. interceptor makes the tackle, AF warps to interceptor and takes over the tackle so the interceptor, now in hull, can warp off.

But in fairness, that’s just my interpretation of how AFs should work.

Yes, there is no question that an inty and an assault frigate are meant to fit different roles. What I am getting at, though, is that many pilots use a Taranis (inty) instead of an Enyo (AF) for both tackle and DPS. The same for caldari ships (Crow > Hawk) and sometimes minmatar (stiletto > wolf), too. Not sure about amarr.

The Ishkur is also a mean ship, with 5 light drones and 3 bonussed guns with a utility slot for nos/neut. It can confidently take on most other T2 frigates in a 1vs1 situation and is a nice addition to a gang for tackle/dps support. In T2 frigate gangs it really excels.